Defenses to a Domestic Violence Charge in Ohio
Ohio Domestic Violence Attorney Joslyn explains defenses to a domestic violence charge in Ohio domestic violence cases. If you’ve been arrested for a domestic violence offense in Ohio, call Joslyn Law Firm at (614) 444-1900 today for a consultation to discuss your case.
When the alleged victim is not on our side in a domestic violence case, and is asserting that what was originally alleged is true, our job is to discredit this person. Often times that person is the only piece of evidence in the case. It’s rare to have other witnesses or other evidence like video or something like that in a domestic violence case. So the entire case relies upon this person’s statements. So we’re often scouring an individual’s life through social media, often times through our client’s text messages. To try to lay the foundation that this person’s lying, and has motive to do and say what they’re doing. The most common defenses in a domestic violence case is, are first, that it’s a false allegation. And that there’s some motive or reason as to why this lie is occurring. The second most common is that there was self-defense. And that we’re saying that our client did use force against this individual but did so under the self defense statute and was justified in what they did. And lastly one of the most common defenses in domestic violence cases is the alibi defense. Often times accusations are made, and can be disproven because our client was not even there. Sometimes the events that are depicted by alleged victims are occurring on dates, times or locations where it was impossible for our client to be there. So were often times getting records from our employees’ phone, records from their employer, sometimes they have friends or family members or others that can vouch for their whereabouts when an alleged incident occurred, and we’re putting all those things together to provide an alibi defense. Which under Ohio law has to be asserted, and it has to be made within 10 days of the trial or you can’t assert it.
